Chapter 53, A Chat with Adelheid

M30.884

Tanya Russ
Svellgard

Well, Svellgard did not resemble the reports I had of it a long time ago. The Mechanicum under Adelheid had been very busy building up massive factory complexes and living quarters across the moon.

The past reports indicated that there had been no population, and the moon, though having a slightly breathable atmosphere, was barely worth paying any attention to. Things have changed, with factories dotting the planet, habitation blocks looking like some sort of dystopian cyberpunk nightmare of mega-block cities, as well as other developments as they grew across the moon.

As I came in from Fenris, I saw the lights of the Forge World glowing brighter than ever. I wondered what the people of the planet below thought. After all, this was the moon of Frostheim, a rather backward place compared to Fenris at this point. Fenris and Frostheim at one point in time, one could say that they were very similar planets. I would say no, not anymore. Fenris, well Fenris had proper cities, infrastructure and amenities; technology was progressing and building itself up.

Frostheim, well, it existed. Roughly about a billion people on the planet, slowly growing, but well, there was no land on the planet. It was an ice world in every sense of the word. All water beneath the ice, maybe one or two islands poking through here or there, but they did not get their food from any grown sources, at least not from normal plant life, or maybe some specialty plants that I had not been informed about. It was always a possibility, but for most reports, the people of Frostheim tended to be nomadic hunters, hunting and fishing the megafauna that crossed above and below the snowy plains.

What were these animals eating? From what I understood, they would break through the ice and eat fish, so these large animals were most likely omnivores or, at the very worst, predators themselves. So, again, another Death World for me to develop into something useful to the Fenris system.

Anyways, because they were nomadic, they had an almost low level of technology. The local government was nonexistent, as the tribal leaders were squabbling every now and then. The level of education was minimal to say the least, with little in the way of usable natural resources, just a little enough food for them to survive. But things would change with Fenris now having quite a few diplomatic actions across the galaxy. If we were to set up a spaceport on Frostheim, I'm sure we could sell food to the locals and start the process of urbanization.

Build a city, educate the populace, develop some technology; sooner or later, it would catch up with Fenris. It might take a bit longer simply because it was even further back in time compared to Fenris in terms of technological level. Beyond that, reports indicated that the people of Frostheim actually liked what was going on in the system. I mean, they were rather separate from everyone, but apparently, they weren't too mad with how things were developing, which was good. Given enough time, I'm sure we can find a way to integrate them, maybe set up a Space Marine recruitment area on this planet, like I was planning to do with Midgardia, build another great company from the stock here so that we would have another training area, a thought for later.

It was really the only use for the population, well the only way I could think of for the population. That's why I was on Svellgard, to speak with Miss Adelheid about an interesting project that she wanted to propose to me.

The population of this Forge World came from four sources, from what I could tell, soon to be five, but it was four at the moment: members of the Mechanicum from Mars and other Mechanicum planets who were interested in the idea of building up this planet and being as close to a Primarch as possible.

Individuals of science and engineering inclination who had been interested in the technologies of the past from my own planet of Fenris. People who had been brought from Frostheim to work as employees on various projects across the planet in order to fill the gap in labor.

And prisoners who had been turned into mechanical monstrosities from across the Galaxy, some including Fenrisians themselves. I had only allowed the prisoners sentenced with the death penalty be taken. If a person was going to die, well, might as well make him a little bit useful for the Mechanicum.

Of course, the fifth would be people from Midgardia who would be joining as laborers alongside the people of Frostheim. Unfortunately there were going to be people from those groups who will end up joining the ranks of the walking cybernetic monstrosities for one reason or another, that I was not a big fan of.

But that being said, this Forge World was a very valued resource at this point. Most of the armor made for the Fenrisian Guard came from here. The Russ tanks for both the Guard and the Valkyrie came from here. Hell, a good portion of the armor made for the officers in my Legion came from here, including actual wearable armor because, well, Miss Adelheid had a thing for making armor as works of art when it came to my Valkyries' armor. Noted, and I would say some of it was rather artful, but half of the stuff ended up being way too personalized. I had thought about sending an order to stop her from doing that since personalized armor meant you couldn't change out pieces when it got damaged, but the stuff, when it got damaged, usually meant the Valkyrie had died, and well, it was better just to bury her in her armor or send that armor off to be forged again if she had said so in her will.

It was actually a thing that had happened not too long ago when speaking to my Valkyrie, Maria Hæfnirdottir. According to her, several women had their daughters join the Valkyrie not too long ago. One of them had died before her daughter had officially joined the Valkyrie and had left a note to her fellow Valkyria about what she wanted done with her armor, which turned out to be having it reforged to her daughter's size. I imagine that would probably be a recurring thing that would go on in the family lines of Valkyrie.

An interesting realization that I had not really delved too deep into ever since I ordered the experimentation with the Valkyrie DNA strain harvested from Lord Wolfen. Was that since each Valkyrie had a more durable and robust body paired with a longer lifespan, it also meant that they had a better chance of serving alongside their children when they took the process to become a Valkyrie in a few cases since, the cultural identity of a Fenrisian was that of a warrior and would go into combat even if they had a family.

That was something to keep an eye on, see how that progressed and what became of that, but it was not important for my current conversation as I walked down the passageway that would take me to the meeting room where I was to meet Miss Adelheid. We were to discuss something rather interesting, or at least that's what she said. I don't know what we will be discussing, but I guess I'd find out soon enough. Probably would not be wise to bring up the whole two-headed wolf issue under Fenris. I was going to keep that a little close to my chest for now, maybe inform the Emperor when I was sure I had the situation under control. Maybe inform a few trusted individuals that I could know would make sure the legion didn't get in trouble with them. Lord Wolfen, a prime example of someone I could trust with this information, I believed, since they had shown themselves to be rather reliable and good at keeping secrets.

Looking to my side, I noticed one of the many ships that came in, bringing resources to Svellgard, it didn't have much in the way of natural resources, but that didn't stop them from getting the necessary resources needed, due to the location of Fenris system had become sort of a trade capital on the way to Terra, many planets had a sort of allegiance to me for freeing them from one alien menace or another through here, and resources collected here were then built into things. I should most likely try to formalize those trade agreements when I get the chance, currently protection via the Wolves of Fenris for trade resources was a much better deal than we saved you once a while back. Another reason why I think the Mechanicum were all in on having a planet in my system. Did they know that it would come to this? I doubt it, but their machine spirits, which are probably very controlled AI from what I was getting, I'd say they probably had some notion that this was a possibility and were one of the reasons they were willing to let this little moon be settled as a new Mechanicum Forge World. That and well, be my main supplier. They probably thought they'd have a little bit more influence on me by agreeing to it.

I imagine they weren't happy that I had let the Squats take up residence on Fenris in the old cities. The Squats probably would end up filling up some of the holes that they weren't filling with their production as time went on, which meant a competitor, and competitors are not things people typically enjoy.

But it was good for free markets, and what was good for the free market was a good thing in my mind. Not to mention the dogma I saw some of their religious class of Mars needed to be tempered by a population that didn't have such religious zeal for the machine spirits. Yes, the Squats had this interesting ancestor worship thing going on, but comparatively, that was a minor thing. Could say that it wasn't really religion and more of just nationalistic zeal, believing in their forefathers' greatness, and they can be as great as them, which could be useful in the right situations.

My thoughts stopped as a door was opened, allowing me to see Miss Adelheid sitting at the end of a table. Well, sitting is an odd word for it. I couldn't tell.

"Greetings, my Primarch," she said, giving a bow before straightening herself and saying, "Welcome to Svellgard."

"Thank you, Miss Adelheid," I said, stepping into the room, pulling off my wolf helm, and placing it on the table. I smiled as I continued, "I heard you wanted to speak to me, so I came as fast as I could. Just finished up with a campaign into the cavern cities underneath Fenris."

"Oh, yes, the Squats. I've heard you've been trying to build more relations with them recently. Rather impressive work, I would say, for beings that don't really understand the things they mess with."

"I wouldn't say that," I replied, before adding, "They seem to have a good idea of what they're messing with now, at least."

"Hmm, perhaps, although I worry that they will go too far too fast with their technology. They have not learned the lessons of Old Night like we did. Our technological understanding is solid as we've recovered much of it over the last millennia. There's a difference between being destroyed and rebuilding using whatever they want, however they want, not caring for the consequences that may come from it."

I frowned before saying, "A little bit of radical technology is never a wrong thing, as long as it is maintained and understood that it won't cause too much harm to the general population. If you're that worried about them, maybe you should see about trying to improve relations with them, see if you can come to some agreements on a few things. I'm sure a Squat-Mechanicum trade and technological alliance would be better for the Imperium than one where they compete against each other for a spot as a top producer."

"Hmm, perhaps I should at least do that. I have been watching your efforts to improve the Imperium from my seat here, and I noticed that you do tend to, but that is not why I'm here today to discuss."

"Oh yes, what are we here to discuss?" I said, pulling out a chair that had been built for Primarch size and obviously placed here for my arrival, as it didn't quite fit the table. I could make the assumption that it didn't normally sit here.

"Well, I'm thinking about the recent salvage you brought in, specifically those Knights that you found in Rangdan Space."

"I did have those sent back here for study, didn't I? Anything usable from them? I thought they were pretty busted up."

"Oh, there were some very useful things from them. The original owners are dead, of course, so we don't know exactly how they work, but one of them, the bigger one, had an internal manifest of how to reconstruct every single one of them. My guess is that the owners were more mercenary, at least that's what your reports implied, so they didn't have a stable Knight world to return to, to rebuild. Instead, they would use whatever allies they found to help rebuild their things. This is good for many reasons."

I leaned forward at that, as I could see exactly why that was good. "You can build your own Knights," I said with some assumption, which got a nod of agreement.

"Correct. The problem is we need those of noble class to be able to wield such weapons, and well, I'm not really sure what to do on that matter. We don't really have a Knight world to drop on a noble class."

"You have an idea, don't you?" I said, folding my arms, wanting to hear what her plan was.

"Oh my, Tanya, this is why I like you. You can come to the right conclusions. Yes, I have an idea, but I would need your sign off to implement it, as it would require us to use a planet that is not under my authority."

"I'm willing to listen, and having Knights to backup my men when they go into combat sounds like a good plan. Tell me, what exactly do you have in mind?"

"There's always Freeblade Knights from these Knight worlds—Knights who have been passed up because they do not have the equipment to build their own Knights. Others left out of wanderlust or due to the disbanding or destruction of their House. And well, some are just exiles and outcasts kicked out from their Households due to old grudges and politics and have become little more than wandering mercenaries. As you are aware, Knights are a valuable resource that's difficult to construct and hard to maintain. Most importantly, they are also a key structure of society in their worlds. And we have a world just below us that has no real structure."

I leaned back before saying, "Your plan is to bring in these Freeblade Knights, let them take these new Knights that you're going to build for them, and impose a structure on the planet below."

"Something like that. It's a little bit more nuanced than that. I wouldn't let them do anything they wanted. I would let you impose a structure on them that they would integrate into the society below."

"Hmm," I leaned back, thinking about this matter. I was planning to try and urbanize the planet below to some extent to help with its technological level. Having Knights directly in my system to call upon and send to problems would be useful, but we would need to make sure that whatever Knights we gathered here didn't end up imposing too much change on the culture. There needed to be integration and not cultural conversion. Hmm.

"How many Knights can be created from what I scavenged from that battlefield?"

Adelheid turned her head before saying, "14 in total. The 14th is a bit temperamental. I believe we can build more in the future, but it will take time."

I nodded before saying, "Find me six Freeblade Knights. They can then gather the human resources from the planet below to fill out the rest. They need to learn to integrate, to not be rulers. The best way to do that is to make sure that they have a connection to the people right off the top, even if it's just training people to use the equipment."

Adelheid nodded before saying, "Okay then, that could be accomplished."

"All right, is that all you called me here for?" I said, starting to get up, before she shook her head, now saying, "Oh no, no, that's not the only reason I called you here. It's time for another refitting. I've heard your armor has been getting a lot tighter on your frame from your Valkyries, so we need to readjust it to better fit you. That and I've got some new toys and equipment to add to your offensive capabilities."

I shivered a bit at the thought of her taking new measurements, but I swallowed that feeling before nodding my head, saying, "All right, it has to be done, and this new equipment better be good."

Adelheid made a binary noise of some kind before saying, "Oh, this will be wonderful, trust me. Your combat capabilities will increase tenfold, and you'll be ready for the fight that's to come on your next campaign. What was it called, Ark Meech?"

"Ark Reach, that's what I've heard it's called," I said with a nod, urging Adelheid to stand up from her seating position.

She said, "Then let us get to work. Need to make sure you're good and ready, plus make sure to have some of the Valkyrie come by. I have new equipment for them as well."

"Will do," I said with a smile, standing up as she slowly passed me, heading to a door that led to a different hallway. I quickly fell in beside her before asking, "So how is the development of Svellgard going?"

"Oh, it goes very well—premium armor production, both personal and mechanized. Unfortunately, the armor I can produce here is only for your Fenrisian guards and Valkyrie. The Mechanicum is a bit hesitant about allowing me to produce our own power armor for your Legion here in mass production, but I think as we more firmly establish ourselves as a known and safe production planet, that'll change. The Mechanicum is warming to you after all, with all the years of good work you've done for them."

"Are they?" I said with a raised eyebrow before asking, "I was under the impression they were having issues with me, too much of a barbarian."

Miss Adeline laughed before saying, "Yes, they did have some issues with you, but you've proven yourself to be more mechanically minded and thoughtful than most of the Primarchs. Last time I was on Mars, which was years ago for a conference, they talked about you in the same breath as Perturabo and the leader of the Iron Fists, so I assume they have come to respect you to some capacity."

"Oh, that's good to know," I said with a smile as Miss Adelheid continued, "Plus, they feel that my planet is a rather good place to ship off the more rash tech-priests amongst them. Just last decade, my little cousin was shipped off to this world because she was a bit too bold for some of the older tech-priests, and well, well we don't like to talk about what she was being too bold with, I'm afraid. But my point is a lot of young and inquisitive minds are being sent to this world that probably would have been languishing in someone's lab if you weren't providing a rather useful release valve, send their problem people here so that I can keep an eye on them, and if something goes wrong, well, their resources are limited."

"Hmm, 'something going wrong?'" I asked as we walked down the hallway.

"Oh, nothing yet. I'm keeping a good eye on the ones they sent here, and for the most part, they're quite good at the work they are assigned, helping with the personal armor construction we do here. But, wow, some of them are quite bold, radical even. Do you remember that Frost Cannon version of the Tanya Russ tank that came from one of the new recruits to the planet?"

I nodded my head; that did explain some things. I had only seen them produced here, so it made some sense, but I had assumed the Russ tank was slow to get up in production, which is why there weren't many variants yet. But if they were being particular on other worlds about what variants they made, that might explain it.

"Plus, they had to keep some sort of standardization between the planets; otherwise, there would be logistical issues. I really must thank you for giving me the chance to run this world, My Primarch. Back when I was just a simple Mechanicum tech-priest, I was rather on the low end of power, my ideas were scoffed at. But ever since having control of this world, I've proven that I was not foolhardy in my ideas."

I smiled and said, "I reward those who work well for me; it's that simple, Miss Adelheid. You've done wonders for my armor, and you've shown yourself to have a good mentality. I'd be a fool not to reward you for your work."

"My ego didn't need even more inflation," she said with an almost mechanical giggle.

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention, there is a chance we may get access to Titan construction information within the next few years as a reward for our efforts in the Tanya Russ constructions and other gear."

"Really now, that could be useful," I said. Having direct control of a Titan legion could be very useful for a campaign down the future, I thought, though I doubt we would get access to it before my soon-to-be next campaign. I'd have to keep an eye on that project.

"Yes, still in negotiations, but when it's completed, we will be able to have a Titan construction and maintenance facility here. I doubt we will be allowed to build many, but even one can turn the course of a battle. Just thought you'd like to know, so that you can keep that information filed away in your head for later."

"Filed that in my head," I said in agreement. "Thank you, Miss Adelheid," I said as we approached the dreaded room that would help her take my armor off for readjusting.

Tanya Russ

Fenris

Dealing with the normalcy of running a planet is strange. Every day I was on Fenris, I dealt with one official or another, making sure things were running well. From the representatives of the Iron Island wanting to export more of their tech to the mainland.

To the Iron Priest wanting to build their competing forges again, risking damaging the environment a little too much. Though some of them were a bit easier to deal with. Thank goodness Fenris was so geothermically active; it was easy to harness the powers of the planet and put them to work for our own needs. Bringing in nuclear material to run power plants and safe areas was also an option that was engaged in quite a bit.

At some point, I should probably have just gotten used to how things were. But it was still strange to be the top dog of Fenris, even with me trying to delegate some of these jobs onto other people down the chain.

I would not say I was pushing for a constitutional monarchy, but I was pushing for people in the local region to handle their own local issues, as long as it didn't affect their neighbors or the environment too greatly.

Russ was probably the most prosperous city it's ever been in the history of its existence. Due to the rapid integration of technologies from off-world and the exponentially growing potential for life on the planet, trade was flowing from one end of the world to the other. Even the sea peoples, the most nomadic of groups in the population, were doing extremely well. Their old boats were being replaced by larger metal warships that could give a good fight to the creatures of the oceans, allowing them a little more time to make it to land before their ships burnt or melted underneath them during the time of fire.

As I walked around the city that bore the name of Russ, I could only smile at the development. It was not modern Japan, not yet, but it was getting there, let's say definitely a better version of industrial Europe. Not as many smokestacks in the air, not as much dirt in the ground, better maintained. All in all, my control of this world had brought long-lasting benefits and its own little empire when you thought about it. Things were not just generous after all.

As for the other developments in the system, well, there was a star fortress now in orbit around Fenris, far in orbit, with another one under construction. It was a precaution, a reminder that the Rangdan had been an issue. But one of them was being constructed to defend Fenris in case the line broke. Thankfully, the first was never put to use, but I wasn't going to halt the construction. I had been given funding by the Imperium to defend my sector, and I was going to use it. Thankfully, my efforts in securing the region around Fenris had proven useful in that regard, allies with imperium were useful after all.

Which made me somewhat glad that I had made the deal with Morkai. Yes, I was dealing with some sort of two-headed wolf creature that might be somewhat empowered by the Warp and the planet's humanity, but we had made a deal. It had sworn an oath, and I believed I could kill it if it ever decided to break that oath.

That was a concern, though it went beyond the creature itself. My understanding of the gods of this world was minimal. Religion was basically non-existent. There was a personal faith I found, yes. The Rune Priests, the Wolf Priests, the Iron Priests, they all existed. But they were all just worshiping elements of society, not a god per se.

The All-Father, the entity that had protected the population of Fenris for as long as it had, from what I could tell, was some sort of Eldar/Human construct empowered by the Warp. It was a mix of technologies and magic forming an entity that wished good for the people of the planet.

This was why the Emperor had no concern with him, I think. No, he wasn't paying too close attention to the faith of the people here. Since I noticed several people referring to the Emperor as the All-Father, I wondered if that might have some long-lasting effect.

That was why I was out wandering the city today, instead of being in my residence at Russ Castle or up in my apartment in the Fang.

What long-lasting effects were people like me and the Emperor having on the general population? Beyond just improving their standard of living, what were they believing about us? Those were the thoughts that were now percolating in my mind after meeting the two-headed 'God of the Dead' underneath the mountains of Fenris.

If this creature, like I believed, had once been something normal before people started to believe it was the Guardian of the Dead, what effect would that have if someone started to believe something we didn't believe about ourselves?

Perhaps I was being paranoid, but I was concerned. I thought that perhaps I should at least learn more about what was going on with my people while I had the time and was here on Fenris.

One of the first places I visited today was that giant statue of me commemorating my rise to power or arrival in the city of Russ, back when it had just been a small castle.

The damn thing was too tall in my opinion. Not to mention, whoever was in charge of it had apparently never actually seen me and had done a little bit too artistic rendition of what they thought I looked like. I tried not to look too closely at the details, or my face would turn red with embarrassment.

Some might say I should have had it torn down the moment I realized it existed, but the fact of the matter was, I didn't want to insult the people. They thought I was doing good, and they were trying to commemorate it, showing that they were thankful for my arrival here on Fenris. What kind of asshole would I be if I just tore it down because I didn't like how it looked?

No, I let it stay up and instead commissioned some artists to make portraits of me to hang up in the castle. So at least the next time they tried to build something, they would have something better to use.

I could have just had some pictures taken, of course, but the act of commissioning art served to better spend money than simply taking a picture. Plus, a little bit of artistic rendition is not bad when it's pointed in the right direction.

But back to the point, I was watching the people around the statues, seeing what they were doing, and noticing that there was a large number of flowers near the front of the statue. Curiously, I watched as a young couple approached the statue and dropped some flowers there, arranging them with the rest before wandering off.

Was it some sort of ritual? What was this, I wondered, before deciding to find out by getting closer.

Being 10 ft tall, I kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. Thankfully, I had decided to wear a very heavy cloak, so I could pass for one of my Marines, just a particularly tall one. With a little bit of magic to change my appearance, I was able to make it so no one would be able to know who I was as I approached.

A young woman in her mid-20s, I guessed, was approaching and placing a flower among the rest. I came to a stop next to her and said, "Pretty neat statue," doing my best to not sound like myself.

The woman nodded her head, still looking at the flowers, and said, "The Wolf King statue is beautiful. Personally, I think the one for my hometown is better, but well, this one has better luck."

I raised an eyebrow before asking, "Luck?" She finally looked in my direction, not seeing me but seeing my size, and said, "Oh, are you perhaps from one of the First to leave Fenris?"

"Yes," I said, technically true.

She nodded before saying, "It's been noted that those who leave offerings here at the statue have a better chance of conceiving a child. Some say it's just luck, others say maybe it's a blessing of the All-Father, but the fact of the matter is, you're more likely to have a healthy and stable pregnancy if you leave an offering."

"Ah, huh... interesting," I said, looking at the statue. Concerned, though, I tilted my head to the left. I could see that there was a hospital at one corner of this square, so it was very well possible that this was just observing the effects of the population who actually were using the hospitals versus those who weren't. But was this possibly having some sort of effect from the Warp?

The question was simple: Was this a chicken and the egg scenario? Was the hospital being there, helping people conceive and have a happier pregnancy, influencing them to leave an offering at the statue as a natural thank you for my efforts in trying to build up the planet's infrastructure? Or was there something Warp-related going on, where people had been having such easy times thanks to my upbringing of the planet, that they were believing that leaving an offering at this area would give them a stable pregnancy?

The real question was, was it a bad thing?

If a small portion of people believed that leaving offerings at a statue of me would give them a stable pregnancy, and they indeed had a stable pregnancy, where was the harm here? Of course, if they went full Aztec or Old Norse and were sacrificing living creatures, that would be a problem. But they were just dropping flowers. I even noted a few gold coins, but that was about it.

Hmm, it did get me thinking about the nature of religion in this universe. Beings in the Warp had been acquiring power through worship, and Father made that clear through our arguments. Presumably, all creatures of the Warp did the same. And going by the fact that the two-headed wolf god of the underworld was a thing, it probably meant that whatever people believed in for a long time would become true. Yes, there's a possibility that it was a two-headed wolf that gained those powers over time. But the fact of the matter was, he probably had run out of food at some point and had been sustaining himself on Warp energy after a while.

Ah, it's confusing, I can see why the Emperor probably did not want to have religion in the Imperium. If people simply believe that a statue gives them a better chance of having a pregnancy come to term and it becomes true, then all it would take is some mistaken belief to create something monstrous.

Based on some rumors that I've been able to acquire over the years, that's probably what led to the destruction of the Eldar empire. Strong belief in something going rampant too fast and too far.

Then again, the Emperor did make it quite clear that people could have their individual faith. It's just he didn't want any organized religion.

Hmm, what was the difference? What was the thing that separated an organized religion from just personal faith? Having a clergy, I would assume.

Hmm, but was this a form of organized religion, just leaving trinkets here at the foot of a statue? I needed to have some sort of conversation with the Emperor, that's what I needed to do. I needed to really hammer out exactly what he meant by religion, otherwise people could come to a misunderstanding.

Personally, I see no reason why people shouldn't be allowed to have their little ceremonies up to a point. As long as it doesn't harm anyone, I don't really give a damn. And if they're harnessing the Warp for good, trading life and happiness, that's not really a bad thing in my mind.

Though I did wonder if I should be concerned about the association that statue was making, though. For instance, the two-headed wolf god was the guardian of the underworld and the dead, keeping them separated from each other. The implications were simple: it kept the darkness away and was darkness itself. The All-Father was an agent of good, helping to keep civilization's motors running for generations upon generations through the worst periods of human history. Again, a good outcome.

This statue, though, had connotations of a fertility goddess... in essence, it implied that I was a bit of a fertility goddess... I had to wonder if that was one of the reasons my bust had expanded a bit while we've been away from Fenris. I should look into when the statue was created and if it correlates.

That was a concern, but by that same token, if that was true, what else could that do to me... Ah, I should not delve into that thought process, really. Going down that road was insanity and paranoia. I could argue quite thoroughly that because people believe that the King of Russ should be a drunkard, a warrior, and a womanizer, it has affected my mindset and put me on the road I am today. But I know those were conscious decisions I made along the way to ensure that I fit in with the society I lived in.

Shaking my head, I turned away and started walking away from the statue, deep in thought, keeping up my cloak and using a little bit of magic to keep people from looking my way as I pondered deeply on matters of faith, religion, and the Warp.

Humanity's psychic potential apparently was vast and unknown. If people believe in something hard enough and long enough, it becomes real in this universe, perhaps.

Well, if that was true, why didn't the Emperor use that to our advantage? Why not spread some sort of religion that focused on the good aspects of the world instead of just burning it all down, as he tended to implement with his Imperial Truth...

Could the Imperial Truth be considered a religion? It was a thought, just a random one, but it was an interesting notion. Could you make a religion out of believing in nothing? Well, that's not exactly true. The Imperial Truth believed in the superiority of humanity, science, and logic, things I all agreed with... well, the last two I agreed with. I'm not really sure about the first one. The Eldar did have extremely long lives, so you can't exactly call them inferior. They worked pretty well in a fight and didn't undergo biological changes to their genome. I'm sure everyone was slightly better at one thing or another, at least all the xenos.

Hmm, obviously the Imperial Truth was trying to cut back on the phenomena created by the Warp, but would it not simply do the same in time? Would the Warp not adapt?

Perks of being a little too much like a clock right now, not enough time studying. A good employee needs to actually investigate something like this, determine what the right action is, and propose a solution. Here I was, focusing on just getting laid, building up Fenris, and conquering the enemies of the Imperium so I could do the other two things more often.

I'm a poor employee by the standard I need to meet. I need to be better, do better, and think harder about what I am getting involved in. I need to find some way to learn more about the Warp than just what I have acquired so far. I need more intelligence, more operational understanding, and more research. How am I going to achieve that? That's a bit of an issue, though.

The only one who knows the most about it would probably be the Emperor, and he is quite set on his point of view on the matter. And he probably has the right opinion. But could he be overlooking something? Possibly. And it's always good to have backup plans. Submitting a backup plan is never a wrong thing in my mind.

I need to be careful when gathering this research. The Rune Priests knew the runes. I could contact them, but they wouldn't give me much.. The Eldar, of course, were a possible option. They would have information. Maybe with some support, I could force them to speak plainly about what the hell the Warp was. The Eldar did have thousands of years of experience with it, even if they had apparently screwed up its use. No, I should only use people I could trust, maybe a fellow Primarch.

Which siblings would actually know the most about the Warp? Well, off the top of my head, I knew Vulcan was out. He was a down-to-earth big brother, as they come.

Perturabo was also not going to be helpful here. Though he had some concerns about the Warp, specifically the Maelstrom in the center of the galaxy, he was unlikely to have any knowledge of the inner workings of how that system functioned. Perhaps he could be used to contact other resources.

Horus, when he ran the wars, didn't really strike me as someone who had much knowledge of the Warp. Khan enjoyed the thrill of the hunt but didn't really do much in the way of spiritualism, I believed. But maybe my contact with him is too limited. He might have some thoughts. Perhaps I should speak with him again next time we work together. Lion was just anti-Warp from what I had seen, so they were unlikely to have much knowledge of how it functions or why it functions. Unfortunate, but I would work with what I had.

Mortarion was probably the best bet then. He, being the most affected by the Warp, was who I needed to speak to, at least of the ones I knew. Perhaps the agents I'd be dealing with in the current conflict I was being called up for would have something, but that was unlikely.

Nobunaga was also on the list of potentials, but he was unlikely to have any information as well. At least nothing that wasn't influenced by the popular culture of a long-dead civilization.

I could also speak to the Squats. From what I understood, there were parts of their leadership that were particularly adept at Warp control. I could see if I could find out more, although the conflicts currently going on with the Squats were not helpful.

The Isolationist faction that was against joining the Imperium and the pro-Imperium faction were in a state of constant tit-for-tat war. Elements of the Space Marines had been called in at one point or another because they took it too far. Thankfully, the ones further into the Maelstrom weren't exactly becoming pirates. But it was an issue that was forcing portions of the Marines to serve against them and was an inspiration for some of the heavier armor making its way to the front just because of the tunnel fighting.

Definitely something I would need to look into. Perhaps there should be some sort of council to actually hammer out what to do with Warp powers and religion since they seemed interlinked at a level that was likely to be an issue going forward for a long time.

Another thing I should probably investigate. Shaking my head, I would need to make more efforts to ensure my career is well-rounded. Being pigeonholed into the conqueror role might be good for peacefully bringing people into the Empire, but I would need plenty of options after the conquest is done. After all, even though I would probably prefer a rather lazy and easy life, there are things I would want to do once the war is over.

Simplifying the Mage system we currently have, figuring out what is potentially useful to the entities of the Warp and damaging to the people of this realm, are all important goals that need to be accomplished. That is currently being left by the wayside in the mad sprint to collect the Primarchs and wage war in general.

At least they're almost all collected, I thought. There could only be maybe four or five more that are unaccounted for, and that couldn't last much longer. I'm sure they would turn up soon enough.

Who knows, maybe one would turn up on this new campaign my men are preparing for, leaving later this month. The enemy that the 17th Legion is facing is apparently tough and hard to defeat, so they need as many troops as they can get. It is unlikely that we will run into one of the Emperor's lost sons on this particular planet, but who knows? Stranger things have happened, I assume.

Shaking my head, I moved out of the gate walls and looked out over the snow-covered landscape, gazing across what used to be the Kingdom of Russ.

The city is high-tech, a mismatch of nuclear and industrial age, but the wilderness around Russ hasn't changed much. It's very similar to how it was 60 years ago when I first came down from the mountains: snow-covered, with heavy trees bearing ancient markings on their bark. Oh, there are differences—a better road system, for one. In fact, a much better road system. Looking out across the terrain, I'm not sure exactly what materials they used, but it's nice to see that there are vehicles moving back and forth, and not just people walking around with horses and wagons.

This main road leads to half a dozen settlements and half a dozen different cities. After that, it becomes a main artery of trade that contributes to the ever-growing population of Fenris, creating a continuously improving scenario that allows the standard of life to rise higher and higher. And that is a cheerful thought. I look out across the road, knowing that what I am doing is good for these people. It doesn't matter what others think. Out there in the galaxy, people in Fenris thought I was helping them, and I know I am helping them get better. So let the people who don't know what they're talking about call me a barbarian in the propaganda. It helps cause planets to surrender quickly. And a few people say that what I did up north was a genocide. But all I did was remove a potential threat from the human population across the galaxy.

I know what I did was right. That's all that matters in the long term. So, whatever is to come with this religion and Warp situation, I know that with logic and determination, I will come up with the right answer. Perhaps it aligns with what the Emperor is working on, perhaps not. The point is that I will do the necessary research to determine it for myself. That's all that matters in the long run—doing my own research and coming to a conclusion that is workable for the Emperor and myself.

Tanya Russ

Playing civilization builder is a rather fun game. I played Civ-like games quite a bit in my last life, though I had preferred games like Victoria 2 and Call of Duty. There was nothing wrong with good old turn-based strategy, and in some aspects, it was a good way to look at how you developed a system when you have a lifespan that renders years minimal problems.

I could not micromanage everything. I could set the general direction, and then I would set out on an adventure to either do something for the people of Fenris or do something for the Imperium, usually both at the same time—bringing in trade and other supply routes through our system to the Imperial core worlds, as well as other developing systems. In a way, when I left for an adventure, that was my clicking of the next turn, setting things in their own direction while I went and dealt with other situations, and like any Civ game, there's always one more turn.

It was time to set out on my next campaign to Ark Reach space and see what awaited me and what sibling was having issues with.

What I would find there, who knows, but I knew what I would find when I got back.

Midgardia would already be into whatever industrial revolution the Mechanicum was helping them create.

Svellgard and Frostheim would be developing a new relationship thanks to the importation of a few Freeblade Knights to help the civilization of that nomadic world sprout harder and produce a new resource to be used for our future campaigns after this one.

The Valkyrie units left behind on Fenris would be undergoing a full revamp and rework since their initial goals as a logistics preservation crew were becoming secondary to being a secondary shock force to send in areas that my Marines were not available for.

The Valkyrie were becoming closer to solar auxiliary forces from Terra space, just a slightly more upgraded guard force to other planets of the Imperium. So they needed to have a full working system as well as doctrines. I would probably give them some of the more acceptable doctrines from the Space Marines, though they would still follow doctrines closer to the Guard, I would imagine in most cases. Only time would tell how that situation would develop, but we would need to work out a fully working command and control.

Most likely, Yrsa, my personal bodyguard and the best coffee maker in the Valkyrie, would end up being in command.

Yes, that may be a little bit of me trying to protect the best coffee maker in the entire legion, but she showed herself as a very competent adjutant, and I was not about to turn down a competent aide. It served me well in my last life.

Beyond that, the Squat city was fully stockpiled and starting to support the local communities. There was still ongoing work down there to determine exactly what it had once been. A research lab was the closest agreement between the Iron Priests and the Squats. However, much of the data had been lost. Apparently, many of the data cores had been damaged over time. It was unfortunate. I had hoped we would come across one of those Standard Template Constructs . The last one had served me well, but unfortunately, we had no luck in the research we had conducted.

I had led a few expeditions to other cities, exterminating as many of the abominations down there as I could, simply to keep the population in check. The underground abominations were not as human as I had once thought. Genetic mutations, as well as general monstrosities, had become prevalent.

Morkai had contacted me once and clarified that it had cleared out the enemy cities near the Squats' new home, though it had told me specifically one particular city further north of the Squats' new home and closer to my own fortress The Fang should be avoided in the future. It wasn't very clear, but the implication I got was that something worse was about that place than just the Night Gangers. I had a suspicion that the site might be a source of corruption that I'll need to clean out when I can gather enough forces for it. Next time I visit, I'll have to burn it out, making sure whatever is down there gets cleaned this time. So, I'll probably need to be careful and only bring forces I trust that could keep a secret—the First Great Company—so that I knew that whatever was down there would fail in its activities and would not spread its mysteries to the surface.

I need to keep a close watch on the situation of faith, religion, and how it empowers the Warp, coming to a closer understanding and also being prepared to deal with what could possibly be the outcomes of misuse of those abilities. But that is for another time. Today, I was looking out from my ship, Hrafnkel, on Fenris and its local cluster, just barely able to see the moon in the distance—the Wolf Moon, Valdrmani. It was the last celestial body floating around in my system that had not been used in one way or another. That's because I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Sure, another reason was it had a certain wolf-like appearance that was vital for the culture of the planet, so I didn't want to damage that. But what could you do with the dark side of the Moon, the side that wasn't viewed? I wasn't sure.

I had considered possibly building some sort of naval outpost there. After all, it didn't really have an atmosphere nor any minerals that noticeably were of use to the people of my planet. I wasn't exactly interested in selling it to the Mechanicum like I'd done it with Svellgard. If I were being more logical, I probably would sell it, but I had grown accustomed to the people of Fenris and their culture. I had a bit of an attachment to them and wasn't about to sell out their culture for mineral gain. Now, if you look at that and say that way, it doesn't mean I have no care for the culture of the nomads. The answer to that is quite clearly yes. They were not contributing to civilization; they were just subsidiaries of Fenris. Similar population, similar conditions, but not Fenrisians. That could be a problem in the future, but that's why I was trying to enlighten them and bring them up into the culture of other planets.

That was a slight concern I wondered about sometimes. Everything I was bringing into Fenris would eventually merge into something, hopefully something good. But there was also the possibility that these imperfections that I was creating would eventually go against each other—a sort of nationalism amongst each planet that didn't like being part of a federation. It was always a concern to be worried about. Hopefully, I will be able to navigate that path without causing too much trouble, though...

Well, the fact I was taking efforts to make sure that Fenris would be the strongest of the factions in the Fenris systems would see a lot of work done to make sure everything worked out well.

Those with the biggest hammer can settle issues, and Fenris would have the biggest hammer when upgrades to the system were over. Already, two Star forts, one finished, the other estimated to be completed in the next decade. These forts would prevent anything major from getting to Fenris proper without coming under its guns. They would be in orbit, allowing them to fire on anything trying to go to each other, as well as anything trying to get at Fenris. They would be technically part of the defense fleet of Fenris, which meant they could work with and protect the fleets.

Midgardia and Frostheim were not being forgotten in this effort. They would be getting defense stations and forward observation posts in case something did break into space. These would protect them as best I could, but most likely rely on the Fenris defense fleets for most of their defenses. And, more importantly than anything else, Fenris could finally begin construction of the ring.

An orbital ring surrounding Fenris was something I was quite keen on acquiring. The population of Fenris would always be limited, not by food or technology; the population of interest would be limited by the conditions of Fenris itself. There was not much land; the waters that were calm most of the year turned to boiling death traps the other part of the year, so anything you built out there was likely to be brought down during that boiling. Not to mention tectonic shifts could literally subvert islands back down underwater during that period. So, anything you built, such as a mining rig out there, could literally be pulled under the surface at a whim every Fenrisian year. There just wasn't enough space

I made a point of utilizing all my funding wherever possible, including the current plans that were under construction for an orbital ring around Fenris. The ring, hopefully, would accomplish this, giving more places for people to live, as well as an orbital work area that could be used to build ships. Granted, it probably would take 80 to 100 years for it to be finished at the fastest, but the technology existed, and it would help stabilize the population growth, in my mind, permanently. Not to mention, once you had one orbital ring, you had the people responsible for it living on your planet and who knew how to do it. There were obviously other ways you could use that knowledge.

The Mechanicum was interested in the project because they wanted the ability to build ships, and having a fortress out there that could accomplish that would be useful. I was interested in the project because it would provide a stable place for the population of Fenris to live year-round and potentially double or even triple our numbers. The ring would also serve as a prime example to show off to my siblings about building up their homeworld.

Perturabo was all in favor of it. In fact, he had sent over some designs for the orbital ring, and the Mechanicum had approved of them. So, it was currently in the final stages of acquiring the construction materials, which was proving a bit more problematic since we couldn't exactly get the materials from Fenris. Fenris wasn't built up enough, of course. We needed to have them shipped in.

Midgardia could use an orbital ring; the toxic fumes weren't exactly helpful for transporting goods up and down from the planet. If one were to build an orbital ring with space elevators, you could transfer resources quite easily and not have ships risk going through the toxic environment.

Frostheim didn't need an orbital ring, but if you had the technology and the resources coming in to do it, it was worth investigating. You know, maybe it would be a ring around the Moon instead—industrial constructions and all that. Having the ability to build my own shipyards would be useful, especially if anything ever cut us off from the main resources of the Imperium. Better to have a backup plan for that situation than to assume it never happens.

The Fenris system did not have many options for expansion, so I was looking at the most likely option that could guarantee a slowly growing rate of population: megastructures. I'd seen more than enough going through the galaxy here or there, ancient relics as well as newer ones. So, building large shipyards and rings around my home worlds was a way to cement Fenris as one of the minor sector capitals that were meant to protect Terra. As well as providing options if you got skilled people who knew how to build megastructures in your system; they're going to look at ways to use that knowledge. Perhaps the leadership I was with would figure out how to build orbital cities that would be rather useful on planets that were frankly deathworld category. Hopefully, they were able to come up with the technology to do it. It would take time though. I understood; again, this was a serious game at this point. It's time to click the end turn button and let the people do what they need to do at your command. I needed to get moving; the fleet for Ark Reach had been assembled, and it was time to go forward and see what my relatives have gotten themselves involved in across the Ark Reach sector.

The last messages I had received indicated that the locals were being extremely stubborn. The population of this sector had decided they would not align with the Imperium and were, in fact, trying to raise forces from nearby trade worlds to fight the Imperium. This was concerning. If Ark Reach was a trade center, that meant they had a lot more resources than just what they could bring from their planetary system. One of the reasons that we had trouble with the Rangdan, frankly, though I don't think this will be as bad as the Rangda.

At least, from what I could tell, these were humans, and humans who hadn't gone off the loony bin in using biological technology to create monstrosities. Then again, I hadn't seen them for myself yet, and reports, even from Primarchs, tended to leave out details, especially the Primarch of the Word Bearers. I've seen their work and reporting, and it was rather unenthusiastic with details. I wondered what was being cut out from said reports, but I guess I would find out when I met them finally. Shaking my head of such thoughts, I signaled to Captain Nemmius Tetanus, to bring our ship around and start fleet preparations. It's time to get on the move, and time to hunt.

Writers note: and with that we come to the end of this home ark and get back out there in to fight, who will we meat next? Well some you already know… the rest will have to waite till next time!

Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…

Edited by:L, Mantsch, BatAzr, Mecharic, Golden. Robyn The Witch

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hunterelliskeith: here you go!
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